This program of audience favorites features the always extraordinary Arianna Quartet and the world premiere of Schlefer’s delightfully irreverent Bamboo Dances for shakuhachi and string quartet. To purchase tickets, please visit Schlefer’s website.

Performers

Sumie Kaneko – Shamisen and voice
Yoko Reikano Kimura – Koto and voice
James Nyoraku Schlefer – Shakuhachi
Arianna String Quartet
John McGrosso and Jane Price, violins; Joanna Mendoza, viola; Kurt Baldwin, cello

PROGRAM

Moon through the Pines by James Nyoraku Schlefer
koto, shamisen, shakuhachi
Bamboo Dances by James Nyoraku Schlefer – World Premiere
shakuhachi and string quartet
Moveoverture
Jubislidy (aka Slickback)
Valse Macabre
Chacachacarera
Bogakuraku
Jiggy Gigue
Galoopy
Interludy
Racherachenitsa
Tommy – a musical fantasy based on a true story by James Nyoraku Schlefer
shakuhachi, koto, shamisen and string quartet

Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!

Susan McCormac 3/3/25 Susan McCormac 3/3/25

Monday Michiru Returns to Joe’s Pub

Japanese American songstress (and the daughter of legendary jazz pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi) returns to Joe’s Pub this week for a performance. Photo by Takashi Matsuzaki

Monday Michiru

Thursday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:00 p.m.)

Joe’s Pub – 425 Lafayette Place (at Astor Place)

Admission: $36

Japanese American songstress Monday Michiru returns to Joe's Pub presenting her unique style of original music inspired by soul, jazz, Brazilian, and other urban flavors supported by some of New York's top musicians. Joining her on stage are Misha Tsiganov, Sean Harkness, Fima Ephron, Adrian Harpham, and Sumie Kaneko.

There is a two-drink or one-food item minimum per person. To purchase tickets, please go to publictheater.org.

About Monday Michiru

Named to reflect both her Japanese and American Italian heritages, Monday Michiru started her musical endeavors with studying classical flute then expanded to singing and songwriting. The daughter of famed jazz musicians Toshiko Akiyoshi and Charlie Mariano and stepdaughter of venerable flautist Lew Tabackin, Michiru easily adapted the language of jazz heard at home into her other musical influences, which range from soul to urban club to Brazilian and more.

Her 1987 debut in Japan was not in music but as an actress, which garnered her Best New Actress awards that allowed her to expand her career by acting in movies, theater, and television, as well as hosting her own video programs and modeling for major commercial ads.

Since her solo record debut in 1991, Michiru has consistently released albums as a solo artist as well as a featured guest on international projects. Her musical style runs the gamut from house to jazz to Latin to soul, an indefinable hybrid that is undeniably hers. To learn more, please visit her website.

Susan McCormac 4/2/24 Susan McCormac 4/2/24

Japanese German Pianist to Make NY Phil Debut

Alice Sara Ott Performs Ravel

Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 5 at 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m.

Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall – 10 Lincoln Center Plaza

Admission: $115 to $263 (plus fees)

In her New York Philharmonic debut, Japanese German pianist Alice Sara Ott performs Ravel’s lush, jazz-influenced G-major Piano Concerto. The program, led by Karina Canellakis, who is also making her NY Phil debut, begins with Webern’s remarkably spare, yet haunting Six Pieces. The concert’s two-tone poems look past earthly life: Richard Strauss’s meditation on the death of an artist and Scriabin’s mystical and rhapsodic Poem of Ecstasy.

Program

Webern – Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 (1928 version)
R. Strauss – Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration)
Ravel – Piano Concerto in G major
Scriabin – Le Poème de l’extase (The Poem of Ecstasy)

To purchase tickets, please visit NY Phil’s website.

Star Pianists

This concert is part of NY Phil’s Star Pianists series. Experience breathtaking virtuosity, timeless melodies, and exciting premieres with this season’s star pianists. The series features captivating performances of classical and contemporary works all season long.

About Alice Sara Ott

Thirty-five-year-old Alice Sara Ott was born in Munich. Her father is a German engineer, and her mother is a Japanese pianist. In a 2022 article in music website Interlude, Ott says of her Japanese heritage, “My whole life was spent questioning: Am I German? Am I Japanese? What am I? I found my answer when I became a musician because in music, nationality doesn’t matter at all.” Learn more about Ott through her website and Instagram.

Susan McCormac 1/25/24 Susan McCormac 1/25/24

Duo YUMENO to Pay Tribute to Late Japanese Composer

Music of Changes: Tribute to Toshi Ichiyanagi

Saturday, January 27 from 7:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.

Tenri Cultural Institute – 43A W. 13th Street (between5th and 6th Avenues)

Admission: $30

Duo YUMENO—Yoko Reikano Kimura on koto and shamisen and Hikaru Tamaki on cello—and special guest pianist Vicky Chow will pay homage to the legendary composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. Ichiyanagi, who passed away in 2022, was a protégé of John Cage during the 1960s and had a profound influence on the post-war Japanese music landscape.

Presented by Duo YUMENO, the program will explore Ichiyanagi’s music, written for both traditional Japanese and Western instruments, and will celebrate his six-decade-long career. Highlights include Paraphrase for shamisen and cello (2019), which was commissioned by the duo; Time Sequence (1976), a dazzling piano solo in the minimalist style; and Linked Poems of Autumn (1990), Ichiyanagi’s tribute to the Japanese koto-song tradition that features texts by the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō. It’s sure to be an evening of provocative and brilliant contemporary music at Tenri Cultural Institute.

To purchase tickets, please visit Eventbrite.com.

Susan McCormac 9/18/23 Susan McCormac 9/18/23

EXPLORE THE UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS OF CREATIONS & BEGINNINGS WITH “ONOKORO”

ONOKORO – creations/beginnings

Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Martha Graham Studio One – 55 Bethune Street (between Washington and West Streets), 11th Floor

Admission: $30 | $15 Seniors and Students

Tokyo to New York, in collaboration with Random Access Music, presents the upcoming production of ONOKORO – creations/beginnings. The show is a unique fusion of music and dance that explores the universal themes of creation and beginnings.

The one-hour, non-stop show will feature a captivating blend of contemporary compositions combining traditional Japanese instruments with Western classical instruments, performed by a stellar ensemble of musicians and dancers. The show will include modern dance, traditional Japanese Bugaku dance, a clarinet concerto with Gagaku ensemble, a hichiriki concerto with strings, and trios combining Western classical instruments with traditional Japanese instruments.

To purchase tickets, please visit Tonada Productions’s website.

Inspired by universal creation myths, ONOKORO – creations/beginnings immerses audiences in a flow of music, dance, and ritual that evokes timeless traditions through contemporary artistry. From “Ryoanji” (summoning the beginnings of sounds) to “Netori, Netori” (evoking the beginnings of organized sound and music), through to “Onokoro” (combining the Eastern and Western worlds of music and movement), modern dancer Miki Orihara, clarinetist and hichiriki player Thomas Piercy, Bugaku dancer Maki Yamamae, and their fellow performers will awaken the magic and majesty of the creations and beginnings that connect us all.

Under the artistic direction of Thomas Piercy and the choreography of Miki Orihara, ONOKORO – creations/beginnings features an exceptional lineup of composers, instrumentalists, and dancers. The program includes compositions by renowned composers John Cage, Gilbert Galindo, Masatora Goya, Bin Li, and Miho Sasaki. The performances will showcase the dance and choreography of Martha Graham protégé Orihara and Yamamae, as well as multi-instrumentalist Piercy on clarinet, hichiriki, and ohichiriki. Joining Orihara, Yamamae and Piercy are dancer Ghislaine van den Heuvel, ryuteki player Lish Lindsey, hichiriki player Joseph Jordan, sho player Harrison Hsu, koto player Masayo Ishigure, violinists Sabina Torosjan and Lara Lewison, violist Laura Thompson, cellist Daniel Hass, bassist Pablo Aslan, and pianist Marina Iwao.

ONOKORO – creations/beginnings is not only a celebration of artistic collaboration which combines the traditional with the contemporary, but it also unites diverse musical genres and dance forms to create a truly immersive experience. This event seamlessly blends and celebrates a harmonious convergence of cultures and is a testament to the diversity of musical expressions and cultures, underscoring the richness of human creativity when artistic worlds collide. It is a celebration of our shared human experience through the lens of dance and music.

Celebrating the Music of James Nyoraku Schlefer

Kammerraku Encore: music for shakuhachi, koto, shamisen, and string quartet at Tenri Cultural Institute in NYC

Kammerraku Encore